Striking refugees now at Servite Monastery: Press conference by refugees, church and Caritas on 4th of March 2013

On 3rd of March, the striking refugees moved out of Votive Church into the former Servite Monestary. At the press conference the asylum seekers held together with representatives of the archdiocese and of the Caritas on the 4th of March, the refugees declared that their new home would not be a small “Traiskirchen” [a “refugee camp” to isolate refugees from society], they do not plan to stay there in the long run, but they are setting another step towards the solution of their problems.

The asylum seekers had explained in a press release that the move to the former Servite Monastery constitutes a new stage for the refugee protest. The refugees sustained the right to hospitality for the monastery by cardinal Schönborn, making it a more open and safer place for the refugees. The refugees are being officially registered at the monastery, where they will have access to legal advice and legal service to re-check and handle the individual asylum cases. On the other hand, the struggle for a change in the asylum system will proceed, together with NGOs. By moving to the monastery the refugees comply with their obligation to report and their obligation to contribute to their asylum “cases”, so they will not be arrested for deportation, the interior ministry had confirmed in a writing.
All this had been defined in a negotiation between refugees, the archdiocese, supporters and NGOs.
The refugees’ compliance to relocate rests upon this very agreement.